We all know the saying, "You should never judge a book by its cover", but we all do... we can't help it.
A similar mantra can be adopted in retail, "You should never judge a shop window by its window" but yet again we do...particularly if it belongs to a charity shop.
Whether we like it or not, and whether its right or not, first impressions count for a lot.
Just look at the likes of Harrods, Selfridges and Liberty in London and Brown Thomas in Dublin - department stores which spend a huge chunk of their budget and employ a huge number of people to dress their windows.
The aim, of course, is to entice people on the outside to go in and spend money.
Someone who knows the importance of this is a lady called Angela Lamont.
She is the manager of the Action Cancer store in Coleraine and she is responsible for creating the most talked-about shop window in town, and possibly the entire North Coast.
Her efforts are on a smaller scale to Harrods, Selfridges and Liberty but they make just as big an impact on customers.
Having worked in Action Cancer for 17 years, Angela took over the running of the Coleraine store and found an outlet for her creativity, her passion and her imagination.
She started to dress the shop window in the hope of "stopping people in their tracks" and as you can see from just a small selection of her work - she achieved her aim.
Angela said: "I used to be a retail manager for a high street brand and did a wee bit of visual merchandising but through Action Cancer I got the freedom to do my own thing.
"And it just progressed. I have become more daring and adventerous...the displays have got madder as the years go on, but sure it's great."
Angela and the Action Cancer window have become so well-known in and around the town that she is regularly asked what she is planning next.
She said: "I have people stopping me on the street asking, 'What are you going to do for your next window?' And I love that.
"People look at the windows, they take a step back, look up and realise it's Action Cancer and that's the whole point - to get us noticed.
"The fun thing is we can chop and change our displays. Unlike with mainstream retail when you have strict seasons, we have the freedom to do what we want, when we want."
When it comes to inspiration, Angela takes it from everywhere she goes, everyone she meets and everything that comes in store.
She said: "I'm here nearly two decades and I still get excited when we open a bag of donations.
"It is like Christmas every day as we have no idea what is going to be inside. 80% of my materials for the displays come in store and 20% I source myself."
And as regards the work that goes into each window, it takes a lot of time and effort but Angela loves every second of it.
She said: "When I am doing this I am in my element. It takes about a week to create the window and about a month to prepare it.
"A lot of work work goes on in the background but it's fine as long as it gets people in the store.
"The window is the soul of the shop and there's always a story in mine. People visit just out of curiosity and that is half the battle."
Angela is gearing up for the next "story" which will be autumn-inspired and then she'll be focusing on the biggest one of the year – Christmas.
She said: "It takes me a few months to prepare the Christmas one. Each year we have a tough act to follow as the 2018 window was chosen as Best Shop Window by the local council.
"We were really chuffed, especially considering I used a beach ball to make the dress!"
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